Stand Up, Speak Up... part 1 by wongoz

I don't normally buy Nike stuff anymore... I'd make an exception for the R4 Shox, still the most comfortable runners I've ever had, but in general, I like to go with the home-brand, adidas. It helps that adi is pretty darn cool, and hasn't come under fire for sweatshopping before... That said, it's great to see corporations do something good, and in this case, Nike gets props for supporting the anti-racism cause spurred by several ugly incidents in Europe in the last couple months.

Unfortunately, racism is still present in today's ever-integrating European society, and that was seen most visibly in some football (aka soccer) matches earlier this season. Esteemed players like Thierry Henry, Roberto Carlos and Rio Ferdinand have been booed, slurred or otherwise humiliated, on and off the pitch. One might think it limited to drunk English hooligans, but alas, the classless behaviour was also demonstrated by some boorish Spanish fans.

But they're not alone - almost all European people groups seem to show some intolerance to ethnicities other than their own. Of course, this is a very broad generalization, but it's something I've just noticed. It's not overt discrimination, more like a condescending attitude towards some foreign types.

In any case, a number of Nike-sponsored football stars have responded to the incidents by promoting a wristband with a twist - it's actually 2 wristbands, one black, one white, intertwined - to raise awareness for this serious issue. Nike got on board really quick and they're probably producing the wristbands as fast as they are selling. Apollo said that they weren't available in Canada and asked if I could get one for him. Well, after no-go's for the past 2 weeks, I happened to pick a couple of these up today:



Yeah, booooyyyyy!!!